Tag: tents

Just wanted to let you know I received the repaired (they look new to me) poles for my 12×12 screen room yesterday, After sell support just doesn’t get any better than this. You folks have great products (two screen rooms and two cabanas here) that is exceeded only by your support.
Thanks,
J. Killebrew
Tarboro, NC

We had it up in a storm at a rally in Iowa and ended up with split poles which PahaQue Wilderness promptly replaced, it’s so nice to have such a great product and company.

M. Darrow

When I spend $15 to $20K on the highest quality trailer out there, I don’t mind spending $500 for a quality product to protect it, rather than some cheap tarp that lasts a couple of years. Plus, supporting PahaQue Wilderness is the right thing to do – they provide us with lots of great products.

Most often, when people return from an exhausting camping trip, the last thing they want
to do is clean all of the gear they took with them. Being out in the wilderness and lacking the effective cleaning supplies we are accustomed to seeing in the cupboard underneath our kitchen sinks, often only the “quick clean” of gear is done, and it tends to be left that way once we return home. But good enough doesn’t always cut it – think of the money you spent on your equipment and what it would cost to replace if not properly cared for. Check out our advice for how to best clean your gear and with what products to ensure it lasts as long as possible, continuing to assist you on adventurous camping trips for years to come.

Boots
The best way you can guarantee your boots will be kept in great shape is to make sure you take 10-20 minutes cleaning them up after each trip. First, remove the laces and insoles, if they are removable. Start with warm water and a small brush (a firm-brush toothbrush will do) that is able to reach into the cracks and crevices of the boots, and start brushing. If a small brush is just not cutting it, browse more specialized tools meant for boot cleaning. When the obvious dirt has been removed, rinse the brush and go over the boots again, but this time with warm water and a boot cleaner. If none is available, a mild dish soap will do. Stay away from laundry detergent or bar soap, as they can damage the boots through residue. Allow the boots to dry in room temperature. Many people use the quick-dry method of drying their boots next to a fire or in the hot sun, but this can cause the leather to become brittle and the adhesive parts of the boot to wear out. The best way to dry them quickly is to place them in front of a fan. If you don’t have a fan, REI suggests using newspapers that are shoved in each boot, which work to absorb excess moisture. Place boots upside down during drying, as this speeds up the process. Once the boots are dry, make sure to use a conditioner coating if they are looking cracked. Also, waterproof boots after each use. Many people want to remove the smell from their boots, so place each in a large, sealed bag and keep them in the freezer for 48 hours, which will kill the bacteria causing the stink. Store boots in a spot where the temperature remains constant, keeping them in perfect condition until your next adventure.

Cooking Supplies
Cleaning your camping cookware is a little less time consuming that caring for your footwear, but still just as important when it comes to preserving your gear. We all do the quick clean on cookware during camping trips, but spending time actually getting rid of the bacteria and grime when you get home is crucial. Fill each pot and pan with hot water and add several drops of soap – use biodegradable if you’re out on the trail doing the once-over clean. Make sure to use any kind of soap, even if it is biodegradable, at least 200 feet away from water sources. Scrub the inside of each several times using a rough sponge or pot scrubber. Rinse the pots with clean water and put them aside to dry. In the case of cooking supplies, the at-home deep clean is pretty obvious, but as for on-the-trail advice, place your cookware in separate pockets of your pack or wrap them in bags to avoid the blackened bottom of pots and pans from staining other equipment.

Tent
Making sure your tent lasts a long life starts the first time you set it up at a campsite. Ensure there are no objects below the tent such as rough plants, rocks, or roots, because this is the number one way tents are destroyed. This isn’t to say you just tear any vegetation to make room for your tent, but rather find a space that has even, clean ground that is already in existence. Making sure the bottom of your tent is also protected on the inside is another thing to think about. Consider purchasing a footprint, which is a barrier between your feet and the bottom of the tent that covers the entire surface of the floor. In addition, make sure the tent is taught when securing it with stakes to prevent any area becoming a catch basic for water or other debris. Make a habit of not wearing shoes inside the tent, and that should help to keep dirt and debris outside, but still make sure to sweep or shake it out several times when you’re done. Another alternative is to use a PahaQue Tent Rug to help keep your tent clean. Something else people don’t consider as often when setting up camp is that most tents are made of nylon, which is worn away by the sun. Try to set up the tent in a shaded area to prolong its life. When packing the tent away at home, the most imperative factor of whether or not it will last is if it’s dry or not. Set up the tent when you get back home and use a non-abrasive sponge, cold water, and a non-detergent soap to clean the inside and outside. Any cleaning products with a perfume smell will attract bugs. Once it is fully dry, pack away in a room temperature, dry location.

Thank you for your interest in our products. We began producing tents designed for car and family campers in 1997, with the express goal of taking all the best features, fabrics, pole materials, and design technologies available and translating them into a large roomy tent design, that can withstand the worst kind of weather. Our premise is that car/family/base campers are not as concerned about weight as a backpacker, and that we carry our tents to our sites in vehicles, not on our backs, generally speaking. So we traded extra weight for roominess and performance.

Why our tents are better: Most tents on the market do not have waterproof tent bodies – no sealed seams for example. To make the tent waterproof, a full-coverage rainfly is required. Full coverage rainflies create a ‘bubble’ over your tent that creates humidity, restricts ventilation, eliminates visibility from inside the tent, and makes entry and exit more difficult. So we took a different route – we made our tent bodies – sidewalls, floor, doors and windows – 100% waterproof by using quality fabrics with heavy waterproof coatings, and by tape-sealing 100% of the seams. No painting seams with sealer required – seams are permanently waterproofed. Therefore our rainflies are only partial coverage, which allows excellent ventilation and reduce humidity/condensation, keeps the tent interior cooler on hot days, allows you to open windows/doors on the downwind side even during rainstorms. The doors and the rainflies have awnings that can be used to create extra shade/dry area in nasty weather. Our floors are bathtub style, so even water running under your tent cannot get it. Bottom line, even in heavy rain your will stay completely dry inside our tents, while still having the ability to open a window or easily enter or exit the tent.

Our designs are near-vertical walled – so you have plenty of headroom even in the corners. In nice weather, our tents open up – with mesh windows, doors, and roof – to provide a very open airy feeling. On dry nights, our mesh roof provides excellent star-gazing. But when the weather gets nasty you can button up and stay completely dry.

Our fabrics are heavier than our competition – for example Eureka uses a 4oz floor material, and a 1.6 oz 150T tent fabric on most of their better tents. We use a 6.5oz 210D floor material, and a 1.9oz. 185T tent fabric. All our fabrics have 1500mil waterproof coatings, along with UV inhibitor and fire-retardant coatings.

Lastly, we stand behind every product we make with a Lifetime Warranty which covers any and all defects in material and workmanship for the life of the tent.

We dont claim to be perfect, but we will do our very best to make sure every PahaQue product performs like brand new, no matter how long you have owned it.

The entries have already started coming in – so please send us your best photos and enter to win a brand new Bear Creek 200 Tent! (a $300 value!). Here’s the deal:

Contest Rules:

Photo must be taken from inside a camping tent, looking out at your subject or view. (The make, model or type of tent used will not be considered when judging the photo entries. However photos using our products may be used in future promotional material with the owners consent)

Photos must in .jpg digital format, and must be larger than 1, but not larger than 5 MB

since I lasted posted anything, so I thought I would take a moment to share what is new at PahaQue these days. Let me start by asking if you’ve ever had one of those days were you start work, look up at the clock, and it’s already 5pm and time to go home? (In our case it’s usually closer to 7pm….) That is pretty much how is has been around here since around mid-April.

Ever since returning from our Spring Desert Guided Tour in April, its been foot on the gas and take no prisoners! I have always said that in this business we are the same as farmers – business is seasonal, and total dependant upon the weather. And as everyone knows, it has been a crazy, and oftentimes scary year around the country. But despite facing hurdles just as every business does – especially these days – we have been quite busy and it has been an exciting year for us.

Working in partnership with Green Supply in Vandalia, Missouri, we have eliminated the inventory issues that plagued us over the past few years, we have expanded our product line to now include mid-price family models, and super-lightweight backpacking tents, and we have totally revamped our website to include the most current photos, specs, dealer listings and more!

We are excited about the upcoming September issue of Camping Life Magazine which will feature a story about our Spring Guided Tour and the joys of backcountry desert camping. We look forward to this trip each year with much anticipation, and we hope you will consider joining us next year. This year we had folks from as far away as Michigan, Las Vegas, Tucson and Phoenix join us, and we all had a great time exploring old mines and mining roads, hiking on the desert and enjoying the awesome sunsets and desert night sky. We will be announcing our plans for next years trip over the next few months.

We are currently preparing for the annual Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City, where the entire outdoor industry comes together to buy and sell, and show off the new products that will appear on the shelves in 2012. It should be an exciting show. The industry overall has been down the past few years, but 2011 has been a year of improvement and growth so the mood should be positive at the show as we all look towards 2012. We really enjoy the face time with our dealers, and the chance to meet new folks and see what new innovative products are being developed.

Here at PahaQue, we are proud that our products continue to be well-liked by our customers and dealers alike, and that through hard work and dedication we have ‘weathered the storm’ that has affected so many of us over the past few years. We have never had to sacrifice quality or our reputation, and can say that we are as dedicated as ever to providing you with the very best camping tents and shelters, and to stand behind our products with rock-solid customer service.

If you haven’t already checked out our YouTube page, you can do so by clicking the link on our home page. You will find helpful set-up videos, demonstration videos, and even a few attempts at humor. Also check out our Facebook page – if you become a “Fan” you will receive occasional sales offers, contest notices, gear giveaways and more. Visit our home page www.pahaque.com for these and other helpful links, as well as a complete look at what is new at PahaQue this year!

So until next springs Desert Camping Tour, I will have to settle for 2 and 3 nighters in the local deserts and mountains, where even a brief trip is a welcome break from our busy in-season schedule. And when we’re not camping, we’ll be making hay!

It was sometime during the summer of 1986 that the idea of exploring old west ghost towns first entered my mind. I was visiting the store of a friend who sold old west and other historical memorabilia. It was like a museum with everything for sale, although I never could afford to buy the kind of things he sold in those days.

As we were talking about our common interests in history and the outdoors, he mentioned that occasionally he would take a trip over to Arizona or Nevada to explore and photograph ghost towns. I was instantly intrigued, it had never really occurred to me that there may still be old, abandoned towns that hark back to the pioneer days. How fascinating, I thought. He showed me a photo album full of images of various abandoned towns and I knew I was going ghost town hunting.

Jump forward to 1990. After a few years of locating, exploring and camping in some of the more accessible ghost towns, a friend and I are starting to search a little deeper into the backcountry for the more hidden, and less vandalized sites. There really are some amazing sites out there if you are willing to push your skills, and your vehicle beyond your comfort zone. I’ve repaired many flat tires, and hiked out for assistance on more than one occasion. For me that is half the fun. I enjoy the challenge and the risk. As with most things, being prepared is the key.

While passing through the remote mountain town of Crown King, AZ., nestled atop the Bradshaw Mountains west of the Verde River, we stopped to talk with a Forest Ranger who was parked next to the General Store. He looked like a veteran, someone who might know this range and some of its history. We talked about mining, railroads, ghost towns and history. He had been a ranger in the Crown King district for over 40 years. I think he could tell we were genuinely interested in the history of these sites, and not just artifact collectors or worse, vandals.

After awhile he just kinda shook his head and said “sorry fellas, but I think you’re 25 years too late to find what you’re looking for.” He then proceeded to tell us a story about how in 1976 they caught two vandals using their truck winch to pull down the top story of the old hotel in the ghost town of Oro Belle, just to see how strong their winch was. At that time there were no laws against such actions, and so there was nothing they could do.

So what time and weather hadn’t destroyed. people had. But still I thought, there had to be something left to show what had happened in these pioneer boom towns. So we persisted in looking anyhow, and oftentimes were rewarded with more than we expected.

Most of whats left are the scars on the land from the mining and railroads that brought these towns into existence in the first place. Usually some “jackass” prospector (miners who carried their gear on a donkey and walked the hills in search of gold) would locate a placer deposit or a vein of gold, silver, lead, copper or a combination thereof. If the claim proved valuable, it didn’t talk long before the rush was on. Soon the hills were crawling with prospectors. Next came the promoters, hopefully the investors, and before anyone knew it they had a booming town growing up around the mines. When the mine deliveries became large enough, some enterprising railroad promoter would build a line to the mines or mill, and then the boom was really on.

But as often was the case, as soon as the veins pinched out, or the mines flooded, or the value of gold or silver dropped, the mines shut down, and the town slowly died. Oftentimes in the desert, where milled wood was scarce, buildings would be dismantled, and re-built in the next boom town. Once the buildings were gone, all that was left were the glory holes, railroad grades, and eroding adobe buildings and foundations. But there is more. Find the old trash dumps, and you can find wonderful old lead-glass bottles that have turned aqua or blue over the years. Broken tools, dishes, even old boots. All garbage to be sure, but an interesting glimpse at the life and times of that area. Find the old cemetery – every old town had one, oftentimes referred to Boot Hill – and you find a very human connection to the struggles of life on the frontier.

Nevada Pioneer Grave

When you see the grave of a little girl who only lived for 1 month, you realize how difficult life really was back then, in that very spot.

Arizona Infant Grave

Nowadays there isn’t much left to see of the really old pioneer towns. But they are still there, or at least the scars still are. And when you do stumble across some reminder of the old days, the pioneer days, and if you can imagine in your minds-eye the events that may have occurred there, you can, for a moment, leave the modern world behind and feel the silence telling a story of a time gone by.

There are many brave souls among us that enjoy winter camping. As a Boy Scout I spent many cold, snowy nights in a floor-less tent, with only a plastic sheet and a pile of pine needles between me and the cold hard ground. I remember well the stillness of those cold nights, the roaring fires, and the feeling that somehow we were sharing an experience that few would dare to try. And that even fewer could survive if they did try. Certainly there were some kids who didn’t make it, and who probably never camped again even in summer. It was like learning to ski in a pair of blue jeans. Your first time out, you’re gonna spend a lot of time on your butt, your pants are gonna get wet, and you will end up feeling cold and miserable. Chances are you won’t be back for more. Same with camping – the right equipment makes all the difference, especially for beginners. One wet night in a leaky tent is usually enough to turn all but the more dedicated lifetime campers away. And nothing tests your gear more than camping in winter. Most gear will work well on a warm summer day, but will it perform just as well in sub-freezing temperatures? When covered with snow or when damp? Stoves, tents, lanterns are all susceptible to cold or moisture, some more than others.

Welcome everyone to the CampingExperts blog, brought to you by the folks at Paha Que’ Wilderness, Inc, manufacturers of high-quality camping equipment for 15 years!
What makes us the CampingExperts you ask? Good question. Seems that everyone is an expert when it comes to camping, camping gear, and camping techniques. And I guess we’re no different than anyone else.
But what we can and do bring to the party is a combined 80 years of camping experience, along with over 15 years of intensive product design and testing. And most importantly – listening to our customers insights, complaints and compliments.
In our never-ending quest to design better gear, we’ve seen just about every piece of camping gear ever invented. We think we know what works and what doesn’t. We personally test our gear in the most rugged backcountry and weather conditions.
In our blog we will be sharing input on equipment, remote camping spots, and camp stories and more. We hope you will participate and contribute your insights as we all search for the perfect camping experience!